Increasing the Interest of Young Women in STEM Fields

At the University of Tennessee, 16 junior high girls recently spent a week on campus participating in the university’s Transportation Academy. The goal is to garner interest among the girls in careers in the transportation industry.

The participants will go to several off-campus sites including the local airport, FedEx terminal, and the offices of the Tennessee Department of Transportation. Among the other activities at the summer academy, the girls will crash remote control cars, operate a driving simulator, and visit a dam and locks system.

Here is a video about the academy.

At the University of Texas, the ninth annual First Bytes Summer Camp was held this past week. High school girls from all around the state of Texas participated at the camp. The effort is aimed at increasing the number of girls who are interested in the study of computer science. Women make up about 15 percent of college students who graduate with degrees in the field.

At the camp, the high school students participated in computer programing tasks and logic games and visited a hospital that used a robotic surgical system.

The First Bytes Summer Camp is free to participants and is made possible by grants from corporate sponsors including Cisco Systems, Google, and Lockheed Martin.

Here is a video that give a great overview of the program.